Stuck throttle solution: 1) Don’t panic. 2) Ease the ignition key back to ‘off’ 3) Not too far back or the steering locks (bad) 4) Pour yourself a stiff drink & tell near-disaster story to anyone who will listen.
no, you dont wanna shut off the engine til the last posible moment. I been in this predicamemt thrice and got it down to a science.
First, make sure its stuck.
Once i thought the gas pedal was stuck but turns out i had unadvertingly activated the cruise control and it was accelerating back to high way speed. Tap the break, this will take you out of cruise control.
Or, if you know/think the pedal is stuck on the floor mat try to free it by pushing or pulling the rug with the heel/tip of your foot. Reaching to pull it with your hand down might get you in an accident so save it last if you cant get the floor mat off the gas pedal.
Next, put on your hazards and hit the horn to warm others that you are in distress and cant stop. Flash your high beams too.
If you are on a car/truck with an automatic transmission, place the shift lever on neutral being overly careful not to go into reverse (shifitng to reverse wont help you free the gas pedal but will drestroy the transmission). Keep the engine on so you can retain the power steering and power breaks.
Then apply the breaks and once you are stopped then cut the ignition key. Shift the lever to park.
Now, once you are safely stopped reached down and try to free the pedal from the floor mat. If it doesnt give way once you pull the rug off then you got bigger problems. Call a tow truck and take the car to a mechanic you trust.
For manual/standard transmissions: the engine might be rev’ing too fast to down-shift so hit the clutch and pop the transmission into neutral. Again, dont go into reverse or you will need a new transmission. Apply the break gently and coast to safety. Once you are stopped, turn the engine off and inspect the gas pedal.
Gas pedals shouldnt stick. If its isnt stuck on the floor mat then its a mechanical problem. When the car is brand new (or off the lot) i think this qualifies it as an automatic lemon. If you had the car for a while then get a mechanic to see whats wrong. If the same mechanic just worked on your car then maybe you need a new mechanic.
If someone glued your pedal to the floor dont eat the cannoli on the kitchen counter, it filled with poison!
Apologies for the long post…
Huh, I usually start off with the liquor then move to beer to keep the buzz going.
I had an acceleration problem on a three lane city street. Let me tell you the first thing you do is panic for a few seconds then you talk yourself down. I did think fast, I had an automatic, shifted it to neutral and quickly crossed three lanes of traffic to coast into a parking lot. It had nothing to do with the gas pedal though, my throttle had gotten stuck open.
I found out by accident that automatic cars with console shift (down by your knee) if you push the shifter into park from drive it just disengages and you go to neutral. I was very surprised, as was everyone else in the car at the time.
This is the devil’s donation derby.
The DEVIL.
I remember a while back, I was surprised for what you were paying for drinks in New York. I’m glad to see such matters are more reasonable in The Copper State.
Also, why is everyone obsessed with big trucks of late? I just don’t see the attraction, especially not when even subsidized gas is well past three bucks in Virginia.
it’s an old formula: guy + truck =
there was supposed to be a
Actually, in most cars made after 1975, if you shift into reverse from drive, it just kills the engine. There is a safety built into the car’s computer that detects when this happens and will just kill the engine to prevent the transmission from blowing up. Also shifting to neutral is good for the tranny but not so good for the engine since it may be running at high RPM and continuing to try to do so. Though it isn’t THAT big of a deal. Shifting down to a lower gear is really the worst possible thing he could have done; just shifting to neutral and turning off the engine would have probably been the wisest :/
@Jen: I agree, but most cars have power steering and power breaks and when you turn off the enginee steering and breaking become hard for us weaklins. Thats why I recomended turning it off after coming to a stop.
Stuck throttle solution: 1) Don’t panic. 2) Ease the ignition key back to ‘off’ 3) Not too far back or the steering locks (bad) 4) Pour yourself a stiff drink & tell near-disaster story to anyone who will listen.
no, you dont wanna shut off the engine til the last posible moment. I been in this predicamemt thrice and got it down to a science.
First, make sure its stuck.
Once i thought the gas pedal was stuck but turns out i had unadvertingly activated the cruise control and it was accelerating back to high way speed. Tap the break, this will take you out of cruise control.
Or, if you know/think the pedal is stuck on the floor mat try to free it by pushing or pulling the rug with the heel/tip of your foot. Reaching to pull it with your hand down might get you in an accident so save it last if you cant get the floor mat off the gas pedal.
Next, put on your hazards and hit the horn to warm others that you are in distress and cant stop. Flash your high beams too.
If you are on a car/truck with an automatic transmission, place the shift lever on neutral being overly careful not to go into reverse (shifitng to reverse wont help you free the gas pedal but will drestroy the transmission). Keep the engine on so you can retain the power steering and power breaks.
Then apply the breaks and once you are stopped then cut the ignition key. Shift the lever to park.
Now, once you are safely stopped reached down and try to free the pedal from the floor mat. If it doesnt give way once you pull the rug off then you got bigger problems. Call a tow truck and take the car to a mechanic you trust.
For manual/standard transmissions: the engine might be rev’ing too fast to down-shift so hit the clutch and pop the transmission into neutral. Again, dont go into reverse or you will need a new transmission. Apply the break gently and coast to safety. Once you are stopped, turn the engine off and inspect the gas pedal.
Gas pedals shouldnt stick. If its isnt stuck on the floor mat then its a mechanical problem. When the car is brand new (or off the lot) i think this qualifies it as an automatic lemon. If you had the car for a while then get a mechanic to see whats wrong. If the same mechanic just worked on your car then maybe you need a new mechanic.
If someone glued your pedal to the floor dont eat the cannoli on the kitchen counter, it filled with poison!
Apologies for the long post…
Huh, I usually start off with the liquor then move to beer to keep the buzz going.
I had an acceleration problem on a three lane city street. Let me tell you the first thing you do is panic for a few seconds then you talk yourself down. I did think fast, I had an automatic, shifted it to neutral and quickly crossed three lanes of traffic to coast into a parking lot. It had nothing to do with the gas pedal though, my throttle had gotten stuck open.
I found out by accident that automatic cars with console shift (down by your knee) if you push the shifter into park from drive it just disengages and you go to neutral. I was very surprised, as was everyone else in the car at the time.
This is the devil’s donation derby.
The DEVIL.
I remember a while back, I was surprised for what you were paying for drinks in New York. I’m glad to see such matters are more reasonable in The Copper State.
Also, why is everyone obsessed with big trucks of late? I just don’t see the attraction, especially not when even subsidized gas is well past three bucks in Virginia.
it’s an old formula: guy + truck =
there was supposed to be a
Actually, in most cars made after 1975, if you shift into reverse from drive, it just kills the engine. There is a safety built into the car’s computer that detects when this happens and will just kill the engine to prevent the transmission from blowing up. Also shifting to neutral is good for the tranny but not so good for the engine since it may be running at high RPM and continuing to try to do so. Though it isn’t THAT big of a deal. Shifting down to a lower gear is really the worst possible thing he could have done; just shifting to neutral and turning off the engine would have probably been the wisest :/
@Jen: I agree, but most cars have power steering and power breaks and when you turn off the enginee steering and breaking become hard for us weaklins. Thats why I recomended turning it off after coming to a stop.